Legacy, companions… The secrets of actor Daniel Gélin

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A French artist with hundreds of films. It was at the end of the 1940s that the career of actor Daniel Gélin took off with his first role in the feature film Miquette by Jean Boyer. As comfortable on stage in a play as in front of the camera, he became, over the course of his roles, a popular actor with the French public.Rendez-vous de Juillet, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Life is a long quiet river or the television series Les Saintes Chéries made him a recognized star.

Throughout his life, Daniel Gélin fell in love with several women. On May 25, 1946, he married actress and producer Danièle Delorme with whom he had a son named Xavier Gélin. In 1952, he became the father for the second time of a daughter named Maria Schneider, from his relationship with the model Marie-Christine Schneider. A paternity that would not have been recognized by the actor, being still married to his first wife. The adulterine child would not have met her until the age of 16.

After his divorce with Danièle Delorme in 1954, the actor would have had a romance with the star Ursula Andress then with the model Sylvie Hirsch whom he married on November 25, 1954. Together, they have three children: Pascal, Manuel and Fiona. After his second divorce in 1971, this seducer finds love in the arms of a woman 28 years his junior named Lydie Zaks whom he would have met in a holiday club. From their union, which will last more than 30 years, a daughter named Laura will be born in 1975.

In an interview with Sud-Radio, the daughter of Daniel Gélin, Fiona had evoked her memories with her father and his spending side. “He left empty-handed. He said the money was for spending and having fun. He left everything to his wives,” she said and revealed an anecdote: “I said to him, ‘Dad , can I have some pocket money?’ and he would answer me: ‘Search through my jackets. Help yourself, take what you want’ (…) That’s why he had women who were more or less at the same time his agent”.

© abacapress

The famous and legendary comedian Daniel Gélin died on November 29, 2002 following kidney failure. “Dad has always been a child. That’s why when he left, he had a very sparkling look… and this mischievous smile… which seduced so many women”, declared his daughter Fiona Gélin in the program The keys to a life at the microphone of Sud-Radio.

From now on, the unforgettable artist rests in the family vault in the Rocabey cemetery in Saint-Malo. Municipality which paid tribute to the artist by naming one of the town’s schools after him.